


Double Date

by estike



Category: Company - Lesson Passion Company
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 22:01:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16921206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estike/pseuds/estike
Summary: Ariake Sara has never had a plan backfire on her so perfectly. (Aoyagi Seiji has never been lured into a surprise double date before.)





	Double Date

**Author's Note:**

> This wouldn't work with the actual timeline of the story, but nothing will stop me from writing cheesy Christmas fanfiction, especially not small things like canon.  
> Any resemblance to real-life events is purely accidental.  
> Also, my apologies for possible typos, but if you are reading anything I write, you're probably quite used to them already.

Ariake Sara is way too excited about the Ariake Food and Pharmacy Christmas Party and that should give everything away already.

It is perfect that for one first and last time, she can go out with “Haruka” for a company-related event, she says. It is perfect, Haruka agrees if he does only as much as to decide to go along with it.

He is in the office on business, in between meetings about the next promotional material they are about to publish in collaboration with the company. Since Segawa took the day off, miraculously, Aoyagi decided to stand in for the day as his driver, assistant, secretary – but mostly driver.

“But of course you are coming!” Sara exclaims, with a decided stomp of her foot. “And Aoyagi-san too. And Yui, and…”

When Ariake Sara says one thing will go one way, it will either happen just so, or the world is going to end. Ariake Sara has never known the meaning of “no” in her entire life – and it seems like she is not about to learn it, either.

The second most excited about this Christmas Party, or End-of-the-Year Gathering is Yamada: and many people believe that he is mostly excited because it allows him not even having to pretend that he is engrossed in work.

“A _bōnenkai_ with an entire ballet company! I will personally find the best place for all of us,” he promises Sara, with theatrical movements. Again, most likely merely to avoid having to work at all.

An exaggerated wink between the two of them, then he disappears behind his computer screen.

Otsuka lets him pretend because all good section heads know when to close their eyes on laziness. As long as your company is not in the red, or almost nearing deficit, staring at a computer screen for ten hours (two hours overtime) and doing nothing is more than enough. Or at least this is how the higher-ups in Ariake are viewing things.

This rule, of course, does not apply when you are working in the general affairs department – as Aoyagi did before his abrupt temporary transfer – because there is always something wicked cropping up its head in the Ariake Head Office, which won’t only require you to work three hours overtime, but makes sure to keep you up at night as well.

Yamada promises to send around an e-mail to everyone about the participation fee and the location later, frantically researching every possible restaurant for the rest of the afternoon. He is probably the most grateful that Ariake Sara sometimes comes to visit her dad in the office, bringing all sorts of great ideas he can latch onto. Later, before he would drive Takano home, Yamada makes him promise not to stand them up in the last minute, no matter what.

“Not that you would be the sort of person,” he adds. As long as there is something to talk about, he will keep his mouth running. Getting paid for chatting is the best way of getting paid. 

“Haruka is the sort!” Sara laughs, then her gaze darkens in the next moment. “But he knows I will never forgive him if he doesn’t show his face for at least an hour. It’s only a matter of good manners.”

Takano remains expressionless. He remains expressionless, or at least it seems so from the angle Aoyagi is looking at him. (Aoyagi has been looking at Takano in different situations for quite a while now, and he can say with some confidence that most of his subtle expressions are well known to him. Or, at least, he knows them a _bit_.) 

A week later Yamada’s e-mail comes, with Aoyagi (and the others) in BCC. His choice: a restaurant in Ginza, five-thousand-yen participation fee for everyone above the section manager rank. (Below, it is half the price. Every now and then Ariake likes to care about “equality.”) Set menu, but an all you can drink bar. Starting at seven thirty. The people who are late will miss out by not being able to drink their money’s worth, Yamada warns at the end of the e-mail.

Takasaki Minami approaches him later after he closes up the studio following a late-night practice.

“Aoyagi-san? I saw the e-mail. Is it really okay for me to come? I looked up the restaurant in this lunch break… It seems to be such a fancy place.”

“Surely, it must be Sara-san’s influence,” Aoyagi thinks, trying to stifle a yawn as he speaks. Ariake, or the dance studio: the nights are always so long. “I’ll be there, so you won’t have to worry about standing out. It’s enough if Sara-san and Takano-san feel at home. The rest of us will adapt to the situation.”

“But I don’t even know what to wear…”

For someone with the youth and talent of Takasaki Minami, she could get quite self-conscious when she forgot about herself for a moment, he thinks. It is a difficult thing to imagine someone looking so lost about an event so minor as an end-of-the-year party, while he witnesses her seeming so fearless and graceful on the imagined stage of the dance studio day by day.

“Most of us from the company will just wear whatever we wore earlier that Friday anyway,” Aoyagi reassures her. “It means I will be in yet another boring suit, and Segawa will most likely wear her sweatpants…”

That does not seem to help her. Aoyagi wonders if anyone else feels the need to make an effort with their appearance for that night: isn’t a Christmas party mostly just an obligation for people that they secretly hate?

Segawa curses under her breath when she first hears about the event, then pretends nothing happened. She surely is the type to hate all sort of company gatherings. And is bad at hiding it, too.

Takano Haruka, too, asks him if there is an excuse he could use to skip the event with. He does not have a favourable answer for him.

“Perhaps you should ask Sara-san about that instead.”

Aoyagi is sure he is imagining things, but for a moment, he can see Takano growing pale. Then, he manages a slim smile, which immediately transfers on Aoyagi’s lips, too.

“You see, I am not very good at socializing with a large number of salarymen who also happen to be complete strangers to me,” Takano explains.

“Most salarymen are a lot more intimidated by you than you are by them,” Aoyagi thinks. Then, he finds himself repeating his own words for the second time. “And most of all, I’ll be there so you won’t have to worry.”

Takano gives him a doubtful look. “You’ll babysit me the whole night? Surely that is a drag for you.”

“Takano-san. Rather than that, the question is whether I could entertain you for a whole night. But if you end up hating it so much, you can always go home before the afterparty.”

If it was Takano, surely nobody will find it out of character once he abruptly leaves the venue before they can even move onto the next.  

He tilts his head. “I will see how I feel about it on the day.”

 

***

 

He leaves work at six fifty on the day of the party, trying to give himself enough time for finding Yamada’s restaurant. Most of the dancers are still practising (someone else will need to be in charge for closing up for the night), but Minami left to change earlier already – and Segawa is nowhere to be seen either. Since Takano had a different schedule for the day, including another photoshoot, and was gone for the whole afternoon, maybe Segawa is with him.

It surely was colder in the morning than when he leaves now, but his hands still feel sore without any gloves as he walks to the station all by himself. He puts his hands in the pockets of his trench coat.

Aoyagi arrives about five minutes early but hesitates to enter alone, wondering if people from the office went out for pre-drinks before the booked course. At seven twenty-nine, Takano Haruka arrives too: in a leather jacket and wrapped up in a scarf, which is probably long enough to cover twice his height.

“I am glad you could make it,” Aoyagi greets him. “Well done for today.”

Takano, on the other hand, does not seem entirely happy about making it.

“When I left Ariake after meeting with the company president, everyone was still there,” he says. “Including _Yamada_.”

He already suspects something that Aoyagi would not even dare to think of. Since Takano looks like he is about to freeze too, he suggests going inside the restaurant and waiting for them there. The venue is on the eighteenth floor of a building, and it looks a lot smaller on the outside than Aoyagi would have expected. The shop windows on the first floor are decorated with warm, orange lights, laced around expensive watches and jewellery. It is only the two of them getting into the narrow lift, his hands still deep within his pockets, and half of Takano’s face disappearing in his black scarf.

When he goes up to the counter a short man in his forties greets him, in all white. 

“We have a booking under the name ‘Yamada’,” he says.

“Oh yes. A table for four. It’s this way. The ladies have arrived already.”

Aoyagi makes a confused sound, but Takano next to him is laughing already. It is not an entertained laugh, at least half bitter, and half knowing. Takano mumbles something too, but it’s almost inaudible, the words swallowed by his scarf.

He sees Yui and Minami sitting next to each other, perhaps even more uncomfortable than the two of them. Yui has an empty glass of beer next to her, and Minami is either drinking wine or apple juice, but he really cannot tell from this distance.

They are seated next to the full-scale window, giving them an average view of night-time Tokyo. Fairy lights are hung around the glass, obstructing the view, but giving a glowing-look for the whole venue. Minami is overdressed, and Yui is underdressed.

“Ariake really went through a downsizing, huh?” Takano comments, as he takes his seat in front of Yui. “Nice shirt, Yui.”

Aoyagi takes two coat hangers from nearby and makes sure to hang all of their jackets up properly before sitting down. For a moment, he is unsure who to look at: all four of them were in different states of awkward, albeit embarrassed. He wonders if it is Yui or Takano who will try to kill Ariake Sara come next Monday.

“I think Yamada thought this would be funny because he hates me,” Yui says, half convinced. “Either that, or he really wanted a reason to get his teeth properly done.”

“This must be a mistake…” Aoyagi tries, although he is unsure who exactly he wants to protect.

“Aoyagi-san, let’s face it.” Takano motions around the restaurant. A kitsch Christmas tree, abundant fairy lights, clashing aesthetics of the Western and the _wa_ , to the point that it is almost charming. There is faint Christmas music playing. “This is an arranged double date.”

The waiter takes their drink order first, before the first item on the course would arrive. As Takano puts it, he would normally opt for beer, but tonight requires something stronger. This time, he goes for rice wine, and Aoyagi chooses right with him.

They clink their glasses together once everyone has something to cheer with, and for the first time that night, Segawa Yui smiles. Mostly at the food that is being delivered to their tables, though.

Takano turns towards him. “Well, Aoyagi-san. What did you say about entertaining me all night long?”

Even though he tries to talk as a group at first, it seems like Takano is absolutely not interested in spending more time with Segawa than necessary during their work schedule – and Segawa is also more interested in asking Minami all sorts of questions about ballet, eager to learn. 

“Now that I am charged with the care of Takano-san,” (Takano mumbles something about this under his breath), “I really should learn more about the technicalities.”

Minami’s face lights up when she realizes that she gets to talk about her passion – without her partner dozing off in the middle of her explanation – and soon the other side of the table completely stops existing for her. She is wearing a pink one-piece, with a subtle, but elegant set of pearly earrings and necklace. Flushed from the alcohol and the excitement, she gets just as pink in the cheeks as the clothes she is wearing.

When Aoyagi also tries to ask Takano about work, he immediately refuses him.

“Aoyagi-san, no. Asking me about my work seems to be the best idea – but in fact, it bores me. Everyone always comes up with the same five questions. I am done with that.”

Instead, Takano points at him. I want to know about _you_ , he says. For what reason; people keep talking about dancing and photo shoots and interviews like they were a huge thing, even though that is all that Takano knew for most of his life. People like Aoyagi, who wore suits and ties and sat behind a desk for most of their lives never really felt like talking about their own work when put up against Takano. So, he says, softly but intently, he wants to know more about what Aoyagi is doing.

“I don’t really know what I am doing,” Aoyagi admits. “I used to go to work at a set time, make sure that everyone in our branch offices got home safe all around Japan in case of a typhoon or an earthquake, cooperated in the company holidays, schedules and the likes… As for now, I am suddenly the producer of a ballet, even though I’ve only seen one in my entire life.”

“Why did you want to do it, then?” Takano asks while gesturing towards the waiter for a refill.

“I did not.”  

Takano looks a bit like he was slapped in the face but tries to soften his expression in the next second already. His voice is almost only a whisper. “Then why are you doing it?”

“I was told by our executive director to do so.”

Takano Haruka takes a good look at the bottom of his sake cup. He cannot imagine, he says, letting someone do something they’d never done before, nor did they show any interest in doing before. It is backwards, he thinks, if not entirely reckless and idiotic. The biggest chance for failure is when people cannot make enough effort and have no passion for their field.

“In a company, there is no such thing as ‘I cannot do it’,” Aoyagi explains. “There is only I am going to do it.”

“Look at my hips, Aoyagi-san.” Aoyagi wonders if he really has to look, or if it is only a turn of phrase. “Unlike your company, in ballet, it is always a yes or no. And even if sometimes no can be negotiated, for months, or even years – just look at me – the impossible will always be impossible. We are better off knowing our limits.”

 

***

 

He does not understand what exactly Takano is trying to tell him. They talked about this before. If Aoyagi says no to his superior, he says goodbye to being employed, too. Even though it is far too grim for a Christmas dinner, they end up talking about how exactly Segawa and Aoyagi made it into this ballet company business. Do you think, Takano asks him, that you were set on this course to fail?

Aoyagi struggles to answer. “If I failed, it would mean that the entire show did, as well. That would mean an immense loss for Ariake. Our executive director must know this.”

Aoyagi’s eyes flick towards Minami and Segawa for a moment – who are sharing the plate of sashimi probably the actual dates were supposed to share. Segawa has her legs crossed and she sits a bit away from the table, so she can turn her body towards Minami as she is listening to her – their voices are too quiet to hear everything. Are they having fun? Aoyagi wonders.

Because, a challenge or no, out of his comfort zone or no, he is still having fun at Ariake. And, when a person spends half of his day (at least) working for his company, even if he thinks about killing himself every now and then, he should be most of all, having fun. Or at least this is what people used to tell him when he started out in his first year, and by the time he is here, as a section manager, it really got into his head.

Sitting here, next to Takano Haruka is different, though. Even when it comes to the other dancers, there is this disruption between them, as if they were standing on the edge of two different worlds, trying to communicate with each other but missing the right tongue to do so. When Takasaki Minami is standing on the bus, with her glasses on her nose, it is almost like they are on the same ground.

But Takano was never a part of their world – or it has been so long that he himself forgot about it, too. For the lack of a better word, Takano is always the alien among them. And so, his way of thinking is different from all that he knows, too.

“People like your executive director are better off dead,” he thinks, probably without realizing how awful that sounds. “I do not know if it is only Sara’s influence on Ariake, or he truly feels an inclination to support the arts – but in the long run, it does not matter. There are few people in this country who would put anything forward to let ballet thrive, and so you must take what you can get. But your executive director? He plays god in your company and sets everything back just to have his petty vengeance.”

Aoyagi’s face grows cold, even though they had a few cups of rice wine already. Takano has always been quite open about his opinions, but at the same time, he always made sure it was difficult to get under his skin. His face and words would mask his deepest emotions, only letting others touch upon the surface and then forcing them to move on.

Working with him, Aoyagi, of course, could start sensing his mood swings and suspect the true intention and sentiment behind his words, but if Takano could help it, there would always be something ingenuine trapped between them. Takano puts it there, to be sure.

“Do you not have fun, in our company?” Aoyagi asks. None of them has touched the sashimi yet.

Takano’s answer is concise and to the point. “No.”

It is not like this is how he wanted to finish his career, he says. It is not like he knew that if he said yes, that woman would come to ruin everything, leaving an undesirable role as his last. Surely, it would not be a bad part, if it was only a part, followed by many others. But that is not the case.

He thought he would have _time_ , and now, he does not. Now, he ran out. This company has taken it.

It is not hatred he hears in his voice, but something even more heart-breaking. Something close to despair, even if it is not helplessness. Surely, Takano Haruka is human, and Aoyagi knows this very well. Yet. No! Perhaps exactly for this reason, seeing him so is the most painful. Aoyagi has seen many people, especially newcomers, in this state of despair. Hell, he himself remembers being in this state of despair before, knowing that his current situation is awful, and yet unable to move forward.

“You came from the other side of the world, all by yourself, just to be with us during this rebranding,” Aoyagi says. “I think it’s unfair that you are not enjoying yourself at all, despite all the sacrifices you made to be here.”

He does not know much about ballet, but he also believes that no background knowledge is needed when it is about recognizing one’s talents. No matter where you looked at it from, Takano Haruka surely was a treasure. And if this was truly his last chance to stand on a stage, he would have deserved something more. Takano shakes his head as a response.

“No… truly.” Without thinking, he grabs the man’s hand under the table. If he did not look at Takano as an outsider, his sub-conscious would probably never allow him to do so. “I want you to have fun in this company. I want you to enjoy your time with us.”

He notices Takano’s gaze, directed where skin meets skin, and quickly apologizes, withdrawing his hand: he hates to be touched, after all. Takano glances at the girls, who are still engrossed in their conversation. Then, he grabs after Aoyagi’s hand, still keeping it hidden under the table.

“I’ll allow it.”

Aoyagi continues his speech. “I feel lucky to have met a person like you here – and it breaks my heart that you cannot pursue what you would really like to be doing with our company. I really wish we could give you the opportunities you deserve.”

Takano says something about that being funny – given that Aoyagi is supposed to be the mediator between ballet company and office, and even if he does not believe it so, the choice is more in his hands than anyone else’s. Of course, he can do nothing about Takano’s injury, but there are so many battles to be fought, and most of them cannot be won unless the ballerinas have an ally on their side.

Aoyagi understands the frustration, but he is only a section manager… he also does not expect Takano to understand the limitations that brings. There are still many people above him who could easily stop any sort of initiative he poses.

They get into a heated discussion about company power struggles, fingers interlaced under the table, and a sake cup in the other hand.

 

***

After two hours they need to stop holding hands (Aoyagi’s palm suddenly feels cold), as the all-you-can-drink course is over, and they need to leave the restaurant. Feeling bad for the girls, for being deceived by both Yamada and Ariake Sara, Aoyagi offers to pay for everyone’s meals.

In the end, they pay half-half with Takano. After a thank you, the girls excuse themselves and disappear somewhere. Takano nudges him by the hand – his fingers lingering on his as he is speaking.

“And where is the afterparty?”

“I thought you would not want to go anywhere after this, Takano-san. Sara-san has already caused you enough trouble with this.”

Takano shakes his head. He is at least a little tipsy. “I don’t feel like going home.”

They walk around a little, to find a place nearby that isn’t a girls bar, too dark and stuffy, too open and exposed, too loud, or too quiet. His backpack is hanging from his left side, Takano on his right, sneaking his hand into his pocket, and covering up the traces with his scarf. Aoyagi wants to ask something about it, but the right question wouldn’t come to his tongue.

 Instead, he only laces their fingers together, until they find a bar they would both find appropriate for the night. It is close to the station, not very loud, and has both standing and sitting areas: they end up snatching the last table in the corner. They go to the counter to buy drinks alternately, and when Takano comes back, he slumps down beside him on the bench instead, abandoning his chair.

It does not take long until they find each other’s hand under the table again. He still wants to ask something, but the right questions would not come to his tongue. Takano’s silver ring twinkles in the light, and so he reaches for it with his other hand too, first tracing the texture of the ring, then rubbing his fingers, one by one. He goes back to their previous topic, repeating himself.

That he wishes there was a way for this production to be what Takano could be satisfied with, but he can only imagine how difficult it is to cross the needs of a massive corporation with art. He always heard Takano speaking up before, of course, about several issues, scolding him, even. But he never considered that he goes home dissatisfied every day.

As for Aoyagi, he continues, surely, there are difficult days. Sometimes he skips sleep, unable to decide how to carry on the next day. But when he looks back to it, weeks later, he can laugh about it. That is why, after all, working is somewhat enjoyable. In a few weeks of time, any clash with authority figures will become a story to laugh about, no matter which side won.

“Just by having met you, I feel very lucky.” He finally stops rubbing Takano’s fingers and lets him go, realizing that he’s been doing this absent-mindedly forever now. “I only wish you felt the same way about our company.”

Takano asks, instead of giving an answer, as he takes a sip from the electric blue cocktail he ordered.

“Why don’t you have a girlfriend, Aoyagi-san? Or anyone.”

That is a very straightforward question, and yet, something very difficult to answer.

Takano continues. “Is it because you are still in love with your late wife? Or is it because you are afraid of what you can lose next?”

It is true. He has already lost Tomomi once, and so, there is no possibility for him to lose her again. While one day might be harder than the next, and one might be happier than the day before, that void he feels is undeniable.

But the connection he misses is missed by so many others – and they still carry on, and

they are still alive. (Even though, barely.) Even if his heart aches, having lost someone already and clinging into their memory is safer than hazarding losing someone else, all over again.

“Are you afraid, of perhaps feeling something for someone again?” Takano asks. Then, he adds, with a rather bitter laugh. “Well, I am: so, I won’t be one to judge.”

“I don’t have to actively avoid it, you know. It is not like I am being chased around by ballet fans.”

Takano stifles a laugh but ends up smiling anyway, the smile immediately transferring onto Aoyagi’s face, too.

“Well, you are about to,” Takano adds, in a low voice. Then, a little louder. “Other people do not pursue you, and you refuse to pursue anyone, afraid of the next heartbreak?”

Aoyagi nods.

“You must know that Takasaki Minami is pursuing you. This is probably why Sara and Yamada tried to put on this mess.” When Aoyagi denies, he continues. “You have to shut your eyes really tight, in order to miss that. I think you just don’t want to know about these things.”

He throws his scarf between them and snakes his arm under it. It is certainly an invitation, even Aoyagi cannot miss that. He sniffles, and finally finds the right words he’s been looking for the whole night.  

“Takano-san, I thought you didn’t like touching…”

The answer comes before he could properly finish his sentence. “I’m just selective.”

Aoyagi lifts the scarf a little on his side, and slides his hand under it, reaching for Takano’s. He is unsure what exactly that means if it is a promise, or a confession, or some sort of a negotiation.

“But how selective are you, Aoyagi-san?”

He thinks about the recording of the Mizuho-version of the Swan Lake for a little, then about his fingers interlacing with Takano’s. His warmth, his smile. The fact that he feels so lucky, even for having met this person. Even though, if it was not for Ariake, their paths would have never crossed. Who talked to who first at the office? Was it him, or was it Tomomi? He does not remember anymore.

“It’s fine,” he chooses to say, with a squeeze at the fingers.

Takano smiles and closes his eyes for the longest time.

 

***

 

It is probably minutes, probably half an hour that they sit like that, hand in hand, but also painfully aware of their surroundings. Takano drags his scarf on his lap, drawing their hand with him. Now they are sitting with Aoyagi’s hand warming his thigh, fingers interlaced. They say nothing about it.

The bar is getting louder, as the night gets deeper, and people fill up the standing part of the venue. Cigarette smoke from the counter reaches until the seats. His eyes are slightly irritated – but not as irritated as Takano, probably. He looks up at him, barely a few inches separating the two of them.

“Aoyagi-san?” he asks. “How come you are a salaryman, but you are not smoking?”

The question sounds strange at first, but oddly enough, it makes too much sense. And most of all, it comes from a genuine place – even if that genuine place is a rather tipsy Takano Haruka, sucking on his second cocktail.

“Not all salarymen…” he doesn’t even have to finish.

Takano fans himself for a while, trying to get the smoke out of his face, although the attempt is futile. Then, he abruptly lets go of Aoyagi’s hand.

“I am ready to go home,” he announces. “You know, Aoyagi-san. The taxi home would cost a lot less if we shared the price between the two of us.”

Aoyagi’s mouth forms a little “oh” but in the end, he does not object, even though he has all the chances to do so. When they get out of the car and wait for the taxi, their breath paints the air white in small patches.

They take a twenty-minute ride, and it is just an extension to the bar, Takano’s scarf laid down between the two of them, a red-nosed, tipsy conversation with the friendly driver.

Takano’s neighbourhood is quiet at this time of the night and barely lit. They pay the driver half and half, and he does not look back as he turns back to the main street. Takano points at the mansion in front of them.

“This is mine.”

He brushes his hand against Aoyagi’s as they walk to the entrance, then laughs. “Wait. I need to find my keys.”

Before his keys, he finds his smartphone. “Look into the camera.”

He snaps a picture of the two of them, and then proceeds to send a text to Ariake Sara, mockingly formal: _thank you for the invitation! We had a lot of fun._

“Oh, she will hate this,” he giggles to himself. “I bet she arranged all of this for Takasaki Minami.”

He finally finds his keys, to activate the lockout system. Aoyagi checks the time, suddenly too aware of himself.

“I think I can still catch the last train home,” he says, although he just paid a small fortune to make sure that Takano got home.

Takano tilts his head, trying to find out what has gotten into him. Fear? Indecision? When he sees that it is only mild confusion, and a drop of embarrassment, he steps closer to him, emerging on tiptoes.

“Oh Aoyagi-san, you won’t do such a thing.”

He cups Aoyagi’s face with both hands, nose to nose. It is definitely cold outside. Under the scarce lights of the mansion entrance, as Aoyagi’s hands automatically find their way around his waist, he sneaks a kiss on his lips.


End file.
